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🤔 ▶️ How to tackle the impostor syndrome?
Daniele Catalanotto avatar
Written by Daniele Catalanotto
Updated over a year ago

Summary of the video

  • The imposter syndrome can be tackled by collecting stories of change and testimonials from people who have benefited from your work

  • Keeping a folder of these messages can help remind you that your work has value

  • Going over these messages regularly and starting the day on a positive note can also help combat imposter syndrome

  • Imposter syndrome can be a blessing because it keeps you motivated to change and learn

Video transcript

This transcript was generated using Descript. So it might contain some creative mistakes.

Hi Daniele, I'm sure a lot of us feel like out of place or unqualified while practicing service design. So how to tackle the imposter syndrome? Good question, because I still have that thing. I thought one day, I thought, oh, once I will write a book about it, I will not have that that feeling anymore.

Oh, it didn't work. I wrote another second book, still didn't work. I thought, oh, when I will teach at big universities it's, I will then feel like right with it. Didn't work either. Having, like big brands for which I worked didn't help either. The one thing that helps me, and that's the one thing that I do, is I collect stories of change.

I collect the stories of people who tell me, hey, We did this project together. This changed. It helped me so much. Thank you, mate. And I make a little folder with screenshots of all these messages. And when I'm really down I just go there and say, Oh no, what I do has value. Oh people the work I do.

And they see it matters for them. And then I heal a bit my Imposter Syndrome like that. The other way I do it is then have like a ritual where I go over the things even when I'm knocked down. So just to start the day on a good mood and stuff like that. So the Imposter Syndrome, it's...

In a way, it's a blessing because it keeps you motivated to change and learn. This also occurs because it's demotivating in a way. Keeping the stories and the testimonials of people, an email, a little conversation where people say, Hey, this was so helpful. This is something that helps me to remember, Oh, I'm not so bad after all.

It's okay.

How I use Notion to help combat my impostor syndrome

I still have an impostor syndrome, but I've found ways of reducing it at least a bit. I do so by recording these elements in a sort of journal:

  1. Key achievements: milestones I've reached, big tasks finished, challenges mastered

  2. Positive feedbacks: stories and testimonials of people that say how my work had value for them

I track these things in Notion. I then use it in two ways:


Resurfacing positive things in my daily routine

Every day in my routine pages I see the key achievements from yesterday, a week ago, a month ago and a year ago.

A screenshot showing how my key achievements of the past automatically resurface in my morning routine document in notion.

Review positive feedbacks when in a down

When I'm down I go back to the positive feedback page and just read until I realize that I'm on a good path.

A screenshot showing my database of positive feedbacks in Notion using screenshots and the gallery view.

More resources

Erik Flowers wrote an interesting summary about the issue we have when we learn new skills and how this can lead to the impostor syndrome.

✨ Made with assistance of AI.

The transcript of the video was made using Descript, and the summary was made by using Notion.ai and the automated transcript with the prompt: "Make a summary with bullet points"

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